The Voodoo Doll

From Great North Road

By Philip Pain.
April 2006

More growing up in Nkana-Kitwe

The other evening I was having a conversation with a friend of mine and the subject of playing "glassy glassy" came up. Some of you out there will remember as group sitting around a horizontal mirror with the alphabet placed around the edge. The room being dark with lighted candles and everyone with a finger on an inverted glass trying to call up the spirit world to get answers to questions asked. (I always believed that someone in the group moved the glass.) Well the conversation brought back a story to my mind and I had to get it on the board before I forget it.

During my year as a Form 2 pupil at Kitwe Boys High School we had to do metal work as a subject. Now I must admit that I did enjoy the subject as I have always enjoyed working with my hands. Today I still use some of the skills I learnt in those classes so I guess that all was not wasted.

I remember with great clarity the motor car chassis that was parked on the veranda outside the metalwork class. For those of you who can not remember I will refresh your memories. The chassis included the engine, gearbox and diff. These were all cut open so that one could see all the working parts inside.

There must be some of you out there who must remember the history of this masterpiece or were involved with its construction. I spent most of my time before class totally fascinated by the mechanics of the internal combustion engine, gearbox and diff. The diff I must admit completely confused me at the time.

The first project that we had to do was to make a keyhole plate out of brass plate. This was not as simple as it sounds as it involved all the basic metalwork skills which one would have to use later on other projects; these included some of the following:- Marking off, hack sawing, drilling and filing. If these were not up to standard you were given another piece of brass and would have to start over. By the end of the year we were all making the most beautiful beer tankards out of beaten copper which were silver plated. (Sadly mine has been lost over the years with all the moves one makes in their lives.)

At the time of my year at metalwork the teacher was Mr. Watkins (If I remember correctly) now I believe that he was a bit of a sadist because he always appeared to get pleasure out of physically abusing his pupils when they messed up. One of his favorites was to knuckle you on your head. (I think he had knuckles made of steel.) To youngsters unaccustomed to tools it was easy to make mistakes. I remember my mate Bob Hardy messing up in one class and Mr. Watkins grabbing him in a headlock, rapping him on the head with his knuckles and then taking a piece of coloured chalk and printing the letters " MT" on his forehead. (The meaning of this I came across when I started my apprenticeship, all the empty gas bottles were marked with the letters MT.)I think most of the boys enjoyed metalwork but hated the teacher.

At one of our evenings while calling up the spooks someone brought up the subject of Voodoo dolls and that maybe we should send Mr. Watkins one. The guys all had some favourite place where they were going to stick a pin. I was given the task of making the doll as I was quite a boffin with my mother’s sewing machine. In the next couple of days I had the doll ready complete with a face of Mr. Watkins cut from a school magazine attached.

At a board meeting of the conspirators, pins were pushed into places which I will leave to your imagination. The doll was then laid in a velvet lined cardboard coffin which was then put into another cardboard box and wrapped up in brown paper with a label addressed to Mr. Watkins. Winkie Walker volunteered to put the parcel on the counter by the typist’s office at the entrance to Mr. Livingston's office.

The next few days were filled with apprehension while we waited for our next metalwork class. (I think we were worried that the curse might work.) The next class finally arrived and I think we were all scared of the repercussions in that he might take out the joke on all his pupils, but to our surprise Mr. Watkins had turned a new leaf and he became one of the most pleasant teachers I ever had the pleasure learning under, I think that he may have got the message that he was not very popular with his pupils. I don't know if he ever went back to his old ways as I only did metalwork for that one year.